China's Xuzhou Construction Machinery Group recently took its new XCA3000 wheeled crane to a wind farm in the Liaoning Province to lift a 25-ton blade some 107 meters above the ground, before it was installed in the turbine hub.
XCMG already has a number of huge wheeled and tracked cranes in its product lineup, but its XCA3000 is possibly the most impressive of all. It's been specifically designed for lifting wind turbines into place, boasts a lifting capacity of 3,000 tons, and is able to lift 190 tons to a maximum height of 160 m (525 ft) – all of which gives it "the highest and heaviest lifting capacity among wheeled cranes," according to the company.
For its debut mission at the Dashiqiao Xintai 200-MW Wind Power Project site in Northeast China, the long-necked monster used by Jiangsu Shenlong Engineering Technology gently hoisted 95-m-long (311.6-ft), 25-ton turbine blades 107 m (351 ft) up to be docked and installed in the waiting hub.
XCMG reckons that "installing one wind turbine can save 20-30% of the lifting time" meaning a nacelle weighing in at 135 tons and having a rated power output of 5 MW could "be effectively installed within a 30-minute operational window."
"This innovation marks a leap in high-performance flexible jib technology, addressing challenges in high-altitude lifting and space limitations during large wind turbine installations," said state-owned XCMG. You can see the XCA3000 in action in the video below.
Source: XCMG